Recently, there has been a proliferation of different computing platforms used by general consumers, which has increased the difficulty of providing content, and in particular applications and programs, that run on these different platforms. For example, the different platforms can include Apple's iOS for mobile devices, the Android operating system, and on-line platforms such as Facebook. The platforms are based on many different user devices, including smart phones, tablet computers, netbook computers, laptop/notebook computers, and desktop computers. Each platform can have different native capabilities or functionalities.
The following problem arises in providing new applications (or apps) to consumers (or users) of the platforms: the creation of apps for all these different platforms can be a technically challenging and costly exercise, as each platform requires different development tools, different types of expertise, different vetting and submission procedures, and supports different feature sets and platform-specific capabilities. In addition, not all platforms support the same types and levels of functionality. These issues need to be addressed for each platform individually.
Another problem is access to application may be limited to downloading applications through application stores associated with each operating system, e.g., the Apple Store, iTunes or the Windows Marketplace. Thus provision of new applications (and updates to applications) can be delayed undesirably due to the approval processes, including technical requirements of the different platforms (the approval process may take weeks or even months), and the time between completion of an application and actual distribution to the users can be significant.
It is desired to address or ameliorate one or more disadvantages or limitations associated with the prior art, or to at least provide a useful alternative.